Life — September 23, 1926 — page 28: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“Fine Meme” HE picture, “Fine Manners,” marks the departure from Fa- mous Players-Lasky of their most lumino , Gloria Swanson. Her loss is a sevére one for Famous Players, leaving a i their program which will not be filled. Perhaps Miss Swanson sensed this and, out of the goodness of her heart, decided to make her last production so bad that her departure would not occasion excessive lamen- tation. She has suc blow. I can officials seeing remarking, “Well—she all.” Cc ERTAINLY ine Manners” is no credit to Miss Swanson or to the dozen-odd directors who worked on it in relay formation. It is the story of a madcap chorus girl who is taken into a high-hatted Long Island family and subjected to a refining process so vigorous that it quells her spontancous charm, Miss Swanson overplays dread- fully at times, and the devastating attractivencss that she is supposed to demonstrate is not always ap- parent. eeded in softening the ine the Paramount Fine Manners” and under their breaths, wasn't so much, after UST what the future holds for Gloria Swanson it is difficult to guess. She is now a member of United Artists, which means that she will control her own destinics to a considerable extent. Miss Swanson’s next picture will be of Youth,” which was made some years ago by Clara Kimball Young; she will be directed in this by Albert Parker, whose good sense and good taste should be extremely valuable. It is my earnest hope that Miss Swanson will get away from the wild, boisterous comedy in which she has so heavily indulged, and will go in for drama which is a shade more dig- nified. is extremely good at that. “The Cruiser Potemkin” OVIET Russia has at last de- posited a moving picture on these shores. It is called “The Cruiser Potemk and it presents the official record of a mutiny aboard a warship after the Russo-Japanese war. In this picture we are supposed to see the awakening of the rebellious spirit in the Russian soul; we are supposed to hear the first faint murmurs of that voice which, ten years later, was to burst into a vio- lent full-throated roar of protest ee Ne gainst the tyrannies of the Roman- off régime. Such is the object of “The Cruiser Potemkin"; so far as this observer is concerned, it failed almost en- tirely to accomplish that object. I saw in it a few marvellous exam- ples of the director's and photog- rapher’s art—notably the deliberate, ruthless advance of a company of soldiers upon a hysterical, mutinous mob; but I found the picture as a whole to be so utterly confused, so disorderly, as to be practically in comprehensible. “The Cruiser Potemkin’ proves that a movie may have magnificently effective long shots and still fail as coherent drama because its close-ups fail to hit the mark. The here has handled his mobs with un- believable skill, but when he gets down to individual cases, he is lost. Look at a Von Stroheim, a Lu- bitsch or a Chaplin production and you will find that the long-shots make the picture, but that the close- ups tell the story. director HIS review of “The Cruiser Potemkin” is of purely academic interest, as the film will never be permitted to get by the National . League, Secretary of State K Hogg and other defenders of the faith. R. E. Sherwood. Recent Developments One Minute to Play. Red Grange acts well as a misunderstood freshman. Beau Geste. Ronald Colman, Noah Beery and others in a beautiful and ex- citing tale of the great desert, directed by Herbert Brenon. So This Is Paris. An off-day for Ernst Lubitsch, but sufficiently sparkling to merit_attention. The Show-Off. Malcolm St. inspired interpretation comedy, with Ford S from West Philly. Battling Butler. Buster Keaton lands with both fists. The Duchess of Buffalo, ican girl_in roughest Russia, alluring Constance Talmadge. Don Juan, John Barrymore as the Great Necker of the Italian Renaissance. Clair's George Kelly's erling as the kid An Amer- with the He also plays some football. Into Her Kingdom. More about Russia. It would be pretty stupid if you stopped looking at Corinne Griffith to wonder what it_is all_about. The Wise G Penetrating the up- lift bunk in a decisive manner. The Great Deception, Terrible. Nell Gwynne. Dorothy Gish in a beautiful but rather witless drama of Olde England. Mantrap. The man who sued Clara Bow for breach of promise had reason to be peeved. Mare Nostrum. Those pesky U-boats are out again. The Road to Mandalay. Lon Chaney as the proprietor of a Sir He is a trifle repulsive to look a heart is in the right place. It’s the Old Army Game. N funny as the admirers of W. C. Fields have a right to expect. . Aloma of the South Seas. Gilda y is very nice indeed in as silly a s you ever saw. Ben-Hur. Ramin Novarro as one of the charter members of the Young Men's Christian Association. The Scarlet Letter, The Black Pirate, Variety, Moana, Sparrows, The Big Parade and The Merry Widow are all recommended, as usual. comicbooks.com